In the early fall of 1897, yellow fever shuttered businesses, paralyzed trade, and caused tens of thousands of people living in the southern United States to abandon their homes and flee for their ...
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In the early fall of 1897, yellow fever shuttered businesses, paralyzed trade, and caused tens of thousands of people living in the southern United States to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. Originating in Cuba, the deadly plague inspired disease-control measures that not only protected U.S. trade interests, but also justified the political and economic domination of the island nation from which the pestilence came. By focusing on yellow fever, this book uncovers for the first time how the devastating power of this virus profoundly shaped the relationship between the two countries. It demonstrates that yellow fever in Cuba motivated the United States to declare war against Spain in 1898, and, after the war was won and the disease eradicated, the United States demanded that Cuba pledge in its new constitution to maintain the sanitation standards established during the occupation. By situating the history of the fight against yellow fever within its political, military, and economic context, the book reveals that the U.S. program of sanitation and disease control in Cuba was not a charitable endeavor. Instead, it shows that it was an exercise in colonial public health that served to eliminate threats to the continued expansion of U.S. influence in the world.Less

Mariola Espinosa

Published in print: 2009-11-15

In the early fall of 1897, yellow fever shuttered businesses, paralyzed trade, and caused tens of thousands of people living in the southern United States to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. Originating in Cuba, the deadly plague inspired disease-control measures that not only protected U.S. trade interests, but also justified the political and economic domination of the island nation from which the pestilence came. By focusing on yellow fever, this book uncovers for the first time how the devastating power of this virus profoundly shaped the relationship between the two countries. It demonstrates that yellow fever in Cuba motivated the United States to declare war against Spain in 1898, and, after the war was won and the disease eradicated, the United States demanded that Cuba pledge in its new constitution to maintain the sanitation standards established during the occupation. By situating the history of the fight against yellow fever within its political, military, and economic context, the book reveals that the U.S. program of sanitation and disease control in Cuba was not a charitable endeavor. Instead, it shows that it was an exercise in colonial public health that served to eliminate threats to the continued expansion of U.S. influence in the world.

The only truly successful slave uprising in the Atlantic world, the Haitian Revolution, gave birth to the first independent black republic of the modern era. Inspired by the revolution that had ...
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The only truly successful slave uprising in the Atlantic world, the Haitian Revolution, gave birth to the first independent black republic of the modern era. Inspired by the revolution that had recently roiled their French rulers, black slaves and people of mixed race alike rose up against their oppressors in a bloody insurrection that led to the burning of the colony's largest city, a bitter struggle against Napoleon's troops, and in 1804, the founding of a free nation. Numerous firsthand narratives of these events survived, but their insights into the period have long languished in obscurity—until now. This book unearths these documents and presents excerpts from more than a dozen accounts written by white colonists trying to come to grips with a world that had suddenly disintegrated. These writings give us our most direct portrayal of the actions of the revolutionaries, depicting encounters with the uprising's leaders—Toussaint Louverture, Boukman, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines—as well as putting faces on many of the anonymous participants in this epochal moment. The commentary provided here on each selection presents the necessary background about the authors and the incidents they describe, while also addressing the complex question of the witnesses' reliability and urging the reader to consider the implications of the narrators' perspectives. Along with the American and French revolutions, the birth of Haiti helped shape the modern world.Less

Jeremy D. Popkin

Published in print: 2008-02-28

The only truly successful slave uprising in the Atlantic world, the Haitian Revolution, gave birth to the first independent black republic of the modern era. Inspired by the revolution that had recently roiled their French rulers, black slaves and people of mixed race alike rose up against their oppressors in a bloody insurrection that led to the burning of the colony's largest city, a bitter struggle against Napoleon's troops, and in 1804, the founding of a free nation. Numerous firsthand narratives of these events survived, but their insights into the period have long languished in obscurity—until now. This book unearths these documents and presents excerpts from more than a dozen accounts written by white colonists trying to come to grips with a world that had suddenly disintegrated. These writings give us our most direct portrayal of the actions of the revolutionaries, depicting encounters with the uprising's leaders—Toussaint Louverture, Boukman, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines—as well as putting faces on many of the anonymous participants in this epochal moment. The commentary provided here on each selection presents the necessary background about the authors and the incidents they describe, while also addressing the complex question of the witnesses' reliability and urging the reader to consider the implications of the narrators' perspectives. Along with the American and French revolutions, the birth of Haiti helped shape the modern world.

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